reviews

Tying Emergers

Reviewed by Scott Richmond

Tying Emergers by Jim Schollmeyer and Ted Leeson. Published by Frank Amato Publications. 344 pages in an 8.5 x 11 inch format, all color. $60.00 hardbound, $45.00 softbound. Available in many fly shops, or online at www.amatobooks.com (look under New Releases) or other online sources (google the title and authors).

few years ago, Jim Schollmeyer and Ted Leeson teamed up to produce an exhaustive encyclopedia of fly tying techniques, The Fly Tier's Benchside Reference.

That book cataloged virtually every modern fly tying technique and stands as a monument to the ingenuity of fly tiers around the world. Every serious tier should have that book in his or her library. Apparently most do: it's gone through eight printing. Not bad for a book that costs $100.

Jim and Ted have collaborated on other fly tying books, as well. They are good books, albeit not indispensable like the Benchside Reference. But Tying Emergers is a book you can't do without if you're serious about tying flies.

What's so important about emergers? Trout feed most aggressively on prey that is both abundant and vulnerable. When they encounter lots of food that can't get away, they become less cautious and gorge on the bounty. A hatch offers abundance, and emerging insects are highly vulnerable. Thus the importance of emergers to trout and trout anglers.

However, like all transitional states, it's difficult to precisely define what an emerger is. Schollmeyer and Leeson correctly identify emergence as not just a stage between nymph or pupa and an adult insect, but as a process. Correctly imitating that ephemeral process is no mean trick, yet the rewards of getting it right can be extraordinarily satisfying to any fly angler who's standing thigh deep in a stream and casting the right fly during a hatch.

Tying Emergers is more than a catalog of fly patterns. After a brief introduction, the authors discuss tying materials, with a particular focus on CDC and snowshoe hare's feet. This is followed by a chapter on basic tying techniques suited to emergers. Basic techniques are followed by a chapter devoted to trailing shucks (mayflies) and bubble sheaths (caddis). Trailing shucks are so important that Schollmeyer and Leeson spend 18 pages detailing 21 ways to create trailing shucks. Each technique includes precise (and concise) instructions and is illustrated with clear photos. Warning: reading this chapter will make you feel like a slug for being satisfied with a hunk of Z-lon tied at the hook bend. The techniques in these two chapters are cross-referenced throughout the rest of the book.

In all, you'll find 217 emerger patterns, each with detailed instructions and illustrative photos. Patterns are grouped into 14 styles. The text is clear and concise, and instructions are easy to follow, as you'd expect when a master wordsmith like Leeson is on board. And the photos are also superb, as you'd expect when Schollmeyer is behind the lens. Each fly is well lit, with just the right contrast to show all the features. Fly photos are a subtle and demanding art, and Schollmeyer is one of the world's masters of it.

This book will provide fly tiers with much to think about, both in patterns and in techniques.

Bottom Line: The best on the most important stage of insect life. No tyer should be without it. Reviewer Rating: 5

Scott Richmond is Westfly's creator and Executive Director. He is the author of eight books on Oregon fly fishing, including Fishing Oregon's Deschutes River (second edition).

Uploaded 04/18/2004.

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